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If Jean Carroll’s rent keeps going up, she said she’ll be forced to move in with her kids.
“People can’t afford it,” she said. “We’re all going to be living in the park pretty soon if this is the way they’re going to run the province. We need some action.”
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Carroll and several other seniors stood alongside the Saskatchewan NDP on Monday, calling for the government to implement rent control measures. The NDP plans to introducing a private member’s bill that would lay out the blueprints for rent control during this fall’s legislative sitting.
April ChiefCalf, the NDP’s housing critic, said there are too many corporate landlords increasing rent beyond what people can afford to pay.
“It’s about making profits, and they’re profiting off of seniors. They’re profiting off of young folks,” she said. “The government needs to do the right thing. It’s their job to look after people.”
Carroll said she was given a lease agreement proposing an increase of $400/month for her Saskatoon apartment. She said she managed to negotiate that number down, but is worried about how high her rent will rise in future years.
“It’s not only us that I’m concerned about; it’s our kids and our grandkids,” she said.
“In five years, there won’t be anything available.”
Roger Derby, a senior who lives in a Regina retirement community, said his rent has gone up by 32 per cent since he moved in four years ago.
Roger Derby has collected 60 signatures from his neighbours, are asking the provincial government for rent control. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)
“The rent has been just atrocious, as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
Derby has collected 60 signatures from his neighbours who are in support of rent control.
“A lot of us are just one step from going out to be on welfare,” he said. “I don’t want to take any of the government’s money. I just want them to look after me while I’m here.”
If his rent continues to go up, Derby said he will have to find a new place to live.
“It’s just not right,” he said.
Rent control backfires, says finance minister
Jim Reiter, Saskatchewan’s finance minister, said provinces that have implemented rent control tend to have the highest rental costs.
“We don’t believe that that’s the way to go. Doesn’t work,” he said. “It actually ends up backfiring. It ends up causing less investment in housing and causes rent to come under more pressure.”
Reiter said the best way to tackle rising rent costs is to get more housing units on the market.
“We’ve done things like the (Saskatchewan) Secondary Suite Incentive, which we think is helping,” he said.
In some circumstances, Reiter said seniors could receive assistance from Social Services programs.
